Download 4 - Forth Interest Group

What a year of transition! So much has transpired this past
year, I thought I'd take a few extra lines and share it with you.
/anuary-the FIG business and sales office moved from its
established home in Oakland, California to Carmel, California. Frank Hall retired as the Office Administrator after many
years of fine service to the FIG community.
February-200 boxes of back inventory was moved to
Monterey. We managed t o do this over a weekend. John and
Frank Hall, Skip Carter, and I moved each and every box. If
you need to fill in your library with back years of Forth Dimensions, you can do it through FIG. We even have a good
supply of FORML Conference proceedings. As we downsize,
this inventory will not always be available; if you want it,
now is a good time to get it.
March-the new FIG office started filling orders for books
and software, in addition to processing renewal memberships
and new memberships. The majority of our members come up
for renewal in March, so you can imagine the deluge of paperwork that came our way. Thankfully, at that time I still had
Julie Stone working in the office. Julie started with me in January to help get things organized. Her presence is greatly missed.
In March, the new FIG office successfully bulk mailed our
first issue of Forth Dimensions. We held our breath, hoping we
had done everything right that first time and that every FIG
member would get their issue as planned. In fact, Frank was
generous enough to come back for a day and help with the
bulk mailing procedures to see that we were on the right track.
April-more processing! More sorting! More archiving of
files! April was the month of trying to get our feet firmly
planted on the ground and to achieve a smoothly running
office. We went on-line with e-mail for the first time in our
new location! Now, not only were we processing orders and
renewals from mail-in responses, but the Internet was producing 10-20 e-mails a day! Believe me, for a first-time user
of e-mail, that alone can be intimidating.
May-I don't remember anything spectacular happening
in May, I think we just worked hard to get things caught up.
And, actually, I'm rather grateful for that.
/line-I decided to attend the Rochester Forth Conference
for the first time. It was great to meet more FIG members
and, as I've stated before, Larry and Brenda Forsley are wonderful hosts. The Forth community is truly fortunate to have
two great conferences here in the U.S. to attend.
ing to step u p and support FIG at a higher level. The advantage for the business is increased visibility o n t h e web site
and in Forth Dimensions. The advantage for FIG is a muchneeded increase in funds. Thank you t o all those first Corporate Members, you are the leading edge of a new level of support for the Forth Interest Group.
You'll notice in the last issue of Forth Dimensions, as well
as this issue, the listing of Benefactor Membership. John Hall
wanted to make known his willingness t o support FIG financially at the same level as the Corporate Members, but wanted
to do it as an individual: thus, the Benefactor level has been
established. Once again, a way t o donate t o FIG and get recognized for that donation. Please, if you're able t o do this,
contact me; we can convert an existing standard membership t o Benefactor status.
September- An exciting time! For the first time since January, we have increased our membership. Membership in the
Forth Interest Group had been o n a decline. With t h e addition of Corporate Memberships and the new Benefactor Membership level, FIG has new levels of financial support. With a
smaller membership and the continued support of higherlevel memberships, we can continue t o bring you t h e quality
product of Forth Dimensions, hopefully for years t o come.
October-time to prepare for FORML, a first for this office.
Each year, Bob Reiling undertakes the mammoth job of making the preparations for this conference held at the Asilomar
Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California. Have you attended? It's a fabulous place to meet the innovators of Forth.
You can meet and talk with Chuck Moore, Wil Baden, Elizabeth Rather, and Skip Carter, to name just a few.
November-it's FORML time. Not only did we get another
issue of FD out the door just a week before t h e conference,
everything managed t o go off without a hitch. Keep a n eye
o n the web site (www.forth.org) for new developments t o be
announced for next year's FORML conference.
December-time t o reflect o n this past year. Soon we'll be
adding a Volunteer Project List t o the web site. The Forth
Interest Group has more projects than we at t h e office can
possibly do alone. We need your help to increase our membership, be it in time or money; now is the time to volunteer
one or the other to FIG.
As always, we at the FIG office enjoy hearing from you, by
phone, by fax or by e-mail. This next year will prove pivotal
to the continuation of the Forth Interest Group-please be
part of it!
-Trace Carter
July-Back at the office, while I was still on the East coast,
Julie with the enlisted help of Brandon Yeager (many of you
know his name from e-mails; his time has been volunteered
as System Administrator of the FIG web site, in addition to
helping those of you who have trouble from time to time
getting o n the "Member's Only" section) successfully compiled and bulk mailed another issue of Forth Dimensions.
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August-New levels of membership have been established! /
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working with Forth and profiting from it are will- 1
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Forth Dimensions XIX.4